SOLDIERS' CLUB.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12176, 27 November 1917, Page 4

SOLDIERS' CLUB.

OUR MEN IN LONDON.

[From Orn CoRREsr-ONTJEXT.]

WELLINGTON, November 26.

The Prime Minister has received a report from the New Zealand Soldiers' Club Committee, -which conducts a hostel and canteen in London. All the cooking and management are in the hands of voluntary workers, who meet- all arrivals from France, providing comfortable quarters on the night) of arrival, 220 beds being available. Soldiers also are encouraged to leave their kits during furlough and stay at the club on the last night of their 'leave. Fully 50 per cent lodge their money with the management, which obviates the danger of it being niched and tends to restrict its disbursement before the end of the furlough. So popular is the club that the overflow averages over 100 a day, for whom the management arranges accommodation elsewhere. In view of this fact some may think that the extension of the present, club might be worth serious consideration, but the committee, states the report, is of opinion that circumstances, such as difficulty in securing premises, the cost of alterations at present, and the difficulty of obtaining a suitable staff, are factors that justify leaving well alone. Since the opening on August 2, 1916, to July 31, 1917, the receipts amounted to £13.744, exclusive of allowance made by the War Office for the board and lodging of orderlies, amounting to £l<Ks. This amount involved providing 64,869 beds, supplying 26.094 breakfasts, 14.469 teas and' 17,267 dinners, independent of canteen sales, 210,522. which represent £9280. Dinner costs a shilling and other meals eightppneo.

Mr Massey stated that he had tea several times at the club, finding the meal Axcellent a.nd the price remarkably che.np in view of the high cost, of living 'in London. It could not be. done even under the present financial arrangements hut for New Zealand men and women doing all work voluntarily.